Harry Potter and the Chest of Caligo
by Shalo
Summary: Harry continues Dumbledore's quest to find and destroy the remaining horcruxes,and while he does that he will face other problems that will test him. Chapter 6 coming soon! Please, please read and review because that's the only thing that keeps me writing
1. So long Privet Drive

The story starts the day before Harry's seventeenth birthday and it's about his seventh year at Hogwarts.

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**Chapter 1: 'So long Privet Drive'**

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This was the hottest day of summer so far, and stars where just beginning to show in the crimson sky. Shrieks of laughter and joy could be heard outside of number four, Privet Drive, but Harry Potter lay on his bed, on his own, sleeping comfortably for the first time in five days.

It had been a hard summer for him, since he kept reliving his last weeks at Hogwarts every time he slept. He woke up every night, sweating and with red eyes from the lack of rest. Every time he dreamed he saw his headmaster die again and watched Snape's pale and hateful face as he killed him.

But just for today his sleep seemed to be peaceful and untroubled. Perhaps it was because he hadn't slept in such a long time and now his sleep was too deep for him to dream, or maybe because he hadn't really fallen asleep, but fainted on top of his bed, but either way, it was very satisfying.

The sleep was very satisfying, but not for long. His uncle Vernon rapped on the door and shouted at Harry through the door.

"Come down boy! Dinner is ready!"

Harry woke with a start. His uncle pounded on the door again shouting harder this time and adding some threats to his words.

"I'm up!" Harry answered angrily, cursing his uncle for waking him up.

He heard his uncle hurrying down the stairs and enter the kitchen talking loudly to aunt Petunia about his manners.

He got up, walked to where his wardrobe was, and stared at the mirror on one of the doors. A skinny sixteen year old boy looked back at him, his jet black hair and his bright green eyes both showing that he had just woken up. His forehead showed a scar shaped like a lighting bolt etched upon his skin. He could see Hedwig in the mirror's reflection, looking just as annoyed at Harry's uncle as he was for his sudden decision of waking them up.

Harry decided to go downstairs and eat dinner because he hadn't eaten anything since morning.

He run down the stairs taking to steps at a time and entered the kitchen, where he found everyone eating (except for Dudley who had already finished). He sat as far as he could manage from the rest of the family and shoved in a piece of meat pie, and a couple of chicken legs, and then left without saying a word to them.

He darted back up the stairs again and locked his bedroom door behind him as he entered it.

"We'll be leaving tomorrow Hedwig!" Harry said happily for the first time in weeks. "And we will never have to come back!"

This was Harry's plan. Tomorrow he would be seventeen, and in the wizarding world that meant that you were "of age", so he would be able to perform magic anywhere and as many times as he wanted.

He looked around and realized that half his belongings where on the floor. His Firebolt was propped against the wall on a corner of his room, while his invisibility cloak lay invisible crumpled on the opposite corner of the room; luckily Harry knew it was there. He toddled around his room picking up dirty clothes and underwear, open textbooks and empty ink bottles, for what seemed half an hour to Harry, until every thing he owned was packed inside his trunk.

He slumped on his bed and stared at the ceiling, ready for another sleepless night.

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This is the second story I've ever written so it may not be very well written, there's also the fact that english is my second language, but I hope you liked it.Please read and review! 


	2. The Leaky Cauldron

Second chapter up! Please read!**

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Chapter 2: The Leaky Cauldron**

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Harry left his room early the next morning, and had breakfast in the living room watching television, something he had never dared to do before. But he didn't care that day, he was seventeen now and didn't have to stay with the Dursleys to remain under the protection that his mother had left for him there, because, like Dumbledore had told him last year, this protection would end when he came of age.

"What are you doing boy?" came his Uncle Vernon's voice from behind him, "that is my couch you're sitting on!" he added sharply.

"So?" Harry said in an arrogant voice.

"So get the ruddy hell out of it!" he said, his voice now rising, "how dare you talk to me like that, I'm telling you boy one more little cheek like that and you're out of this house!"

"I'll do whatever I want!" Harry was really enjoying this, he was planning to cause as much havoc as he could before he left this house.

"Oh don't try me like that!" he said in a low menacing whisper.

"Bite me" Harry said slowly. The effect of these words on uncle Vernon was the one you would expect from anyone to have. So what if he had crossed the limit? He didn't care. The Dursleys had treated him like scum ever since he was born, and now that he didn't have to stay with them, he could say whatever he wanted to them.

Meanwhile, uncle Vernon's pudgy face was turning purple with anger, his eyes looked like they would pop out of their sockets, and his hands were shaking.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT!" he bellowed, his hands waving in the air, "YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE HERE! I SHOUL'D HAVE KICKED YOU OUT OF MY DOORSTEP WHEN THAT FILTHY OLD MAN LEFT YOU THERE! YOU ARE A LITTLE…"

But what Harry was he never heard, for he had just silenced his uncle with a silencing charm with his wand, which he was holding in front of him.

"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT DUMBLEDORE YOU!" Harry yelled filled with hatred pointing his wand at uncle Vernon's chest.

"_EXPELLIARMUS_!" he bellowed. His uncle's eyes widened in fear as the jet of scarlet light hit him. He was lifted of the ground and fell three feet away, landing on top of a coffee table, shattering it to pieces.

Harry stood there so angry that heat seemed to radiate from him. Suddenly someone jumped on top of him, pinning him to the floor, and started hitting him in the face.

"DON'T TOUCH MY FATHER FREAK!" Dudley roared as he hit every part of Harry he could touch. As for Harry; he was trying to point his wand at Dudley. He managed to turn it and immediately the word _Levicorpus_ sprang to mind.

Dudley was lifted to the air as though hanging from an invisible hook attached to his heel. He dangled there upside down, helplessly striking the air around him with his fists.

Aunt Petunia ran into the living room and instantly started shrieking. She bent over his husband and then started to pull on Dudley's red head to get him down, and he did fall; on top of her.

After a moment or two the three of them got up, uncle Vernon was clutching his back, Dudley was massaging his head and aunt Petunia was sporting a bloody nose. They stared at him with hating looks until uncle Vernon said slowly, through heavy breathing.

"Get out of my house boy"

Without a glance at them, Harry darted upstairs, told Hedwig to fly over to the Leaky Cauldron and meet him there. He then got hold of his trunk and her empty cage, and with a turn vanished from the house, never to return.

Some seconds later, the dark and shabby Leaky Cauldron materialized in front of him.

"Mr. Potter!"

Harry turned and saw the old bartender Tom marching toward him. A curios expression was on his face that made him look even older than he was, once again, Harry thought, like a toothless walnut.

"To what do we owe the honor?" he said with a smile now.

The adrenaline from his fight with the Dursleys was now wearing off, and Harry began to realize that he hadn't thought why he had decided to come here in the first place.

"Just passing by," Harry said nervously, "I'm buying some things in Diagon Alley."

"Oh, and what are you buying?" He said curiously.

"Just some school things," Harry said.

"Oh well, the archway is back there," he said pointing at a door that led into the famous little courtyard that was the way into Diagon Alley.

Harry muttered some thanks and went outside; he closed the door, tapped the wall three times and watched it form an archway.

Now that he was here, Harry decided he would visit Gringotts and get some money.

Twenty minutes later he had in his possession a leather pouch with a lot of golden galleons inside it. He decided to visit his favorite shops, and when he entered Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, someone he couldn't see instantly hugged him so tightly he thought his head would come off.

"Harry! Why didn't you tell us you were coming?" George cried behind the person hugging him who Harry supposed was Fred.

Fred let go of Harry and both of the twins beamed at him.

"I didn't really plan it," Harry said taking long mouthfuls of air to regain his breath.

"Well it doesn't matter, now we can take you to the Burrow with us," Fred said happily.

This wasn't what Harry had in mind. All summer he had been thinking about the task that Dumbledore had set upon him, and if he had to go on with it, he preferred to do it alone. He didn't want to endanger any of his friends.

"I'm sorry but I have to go back to the Dursleys, I'm supposed to stay there all summer," Harry lied, feeling angry with him self for not telling the truth.

"Oh, all right," George said, "so… what do you need?"

"I was wondering if I could get one of those cloaks with the shielding charms on them…"

"Anything for you Harry," George said.

Harry took from the shelves a black cloak and a pair of black gloves, these shielding clothes would bevery useful for his journey.

Harry stayed there a while, catching up with the twins' life, learning that more deaths had occurred since he had left Hogwarts. They told Harry that Seamus Finnigan's mother had been killed, and so had Lavender Brown's dad.

He left the shop an hour later and decided to rent a room in the Leaky Cauldron. Hedwig was waiting for him there, and together, they climbed the stairs of the bar and went to sleep.

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Hope you liked it. R&R Please! 


	3. The Journey Begins

Okay, third chapter is up, it's actually longer but I'm leaving on vacation so i had to cut it short, so maybe the fourth will be longer. Hope you like it.

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**Chapter 3: The journey begins**

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When Harry woke up the next morning, he stayed in his bed for a while, thinking that what he had done to his relatives had been wrong. He should have just left without hurting them. But what was done was done, and now his most pressing matter was the Horcruxes and their locations.

Harry got dressed, threw some owl treats to Hedwig and went downstairs. He drank a hot mug of coffee and left the bar to Diagon Alley.

He walked for a while, watching anxious people walking from shop to shop buying all kinds of protective items for their families, this made him want to end Voldemort's life even more than he had wanted. It wasn't only Voldemort he wanted to kill, he also wanted Snape dead. He sat on the windowsill of a little shop and remembered everything Dumbledore had told him. Hufflepuff's cup, Voldemort's snake and something that belonged to either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor where the places where Dumbledore thought the remaining Horcruxes were.

Harry thought hard to remember something he had heard or something he had seen that would give him a clue as to where one of them could be, and then he remembered the graveyard where Voldemort had returned, and the big house that stood on top of a small hill behind the graveyard.

"Riddles' manor" He gasped.

How come he hadn't thought about it before, that was the place where Voldemort's father had lived, and it was also the place where he had been re-born. It had to be a very special place for Voldemort, so it was bound to be the place where one of the Horcruxes was.

He would go there in a couple of days, but before he had to get ready to face the challenges he would be presented there. Harry was now more powerful than ever before, it seemed that the death of Dumbledore and Harry's thirst to avenge him had given him new determination. Like the ministry had once tried to teach the Hogwarts students, Harry had been practicing wand movements and studying new spells and charms, but he had never actually used them, this had only been like this because back then he was still an under-age wizard.

But that was the past; he could practice all the spells he wanted now. He could now transfigure himself into animals or other things (although only if he had his wand), he could perform amazing protective spells and knew very powerful offensive spells. And after two long days of hard training in some woods where he apparated every morning and afternoon, Harry decided he was ready to face his challenge.

Harry woke up the day he was setting out to Riddle's House feeling very uneasy about what he was going to do, but his determination was still as strong as ever and he was going to do it. Before he left he scribbled two notes; one for Tom the bartender which said that he would be coming back at latest tomorrow afternoon, and another one which he addressed to Ron, which said:

_Dear Ron_

_I think I've found the place where one of the Horcruxes is hidden! I'm going to retrieve it today, and you mustn't tell anyone; especially Hermione because she would panic if she knew. I hope I'll manage to get it and live to tell the story, and I wanted to ask you to only tell Lupin, Mad-eye and your parents about the Horcruxes if I die, because someone must keep on looking for them if that happens._

_Hope you're all right; wish me luck._

_Harry_

Harry then rolled up the letter and tied to her leg.

"Please make sure he gets this Hedwig, and stay with Ron until I contact you okay?" He said to her as if this was the last time they would see each other. She squeezed his arm gently and then flew out of the open window.

Hoping that everything would be all right and concentrating hard in the graveyard, Harry once again turned and vanished from the spot.

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Is it any good? R&R! 


	4. Riddle's House

Please read it!and please like it!**

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Chapter 4: Riddle's House**

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Harry felt a soft breeze and a terrifying silence before he opened his eyes and recognized the place where he had appeared. The big tombstones and statues where still there, although some of them had missing arms or wings, probably because of some stray spell fired the night Harry had escaped the overgrown graveyard.

There was a dense mist in the air that prevented Harry from distinguishing anything farther out than a few feet. This was good and bad Harry thought, it would be harder for enemies to see him, but it would also be harder for him to see them.

Harry heard movement behind him and instantly the word _Protego_ sprang to his head, but nothing attacked him, so it didn't work. But he didn't stay to find out if the spell had worked or not, he instantly transfigured himself into a rat and hid behind a statue that had an angel dancing around a little girl.

After a moment or two, Harry decided it was safe to leave the statue, though he kept his rat form. As fast as his little feet would carry him, Harry explored the area, pausing on every grave and staring round the corner, it was hard work being a rat, and he didn't see much, but he kept on investigating the grounds, getting closer to the big house with every step.

After a while of scouting he realized he was standing on softer grass, which was free of graves and statues, and rose steadily upwards. This was the hill were the house was, and sure enough, Harry could make out the outline of the fine old house on the hillside. Swallowing hard, and fearing what was going to happen, he toddled up the slope until he reached the back door of the big house. It looked derelict, with broken windows here and there and missing tiles from its roof. Ivy had crawled all over the walls, and entered the house through the windows.

He changed back into his body, and faced the old door, ivy had completely covered it, and it looked that it would fall down with the slightest kick. Nevertheless, Harry whipped out his wand and pointed it at the look, breathing hard as the spell magicked the door open.

"_PULSUS!" _yelled a voice right inside the house as the door opened noiselessly, causing an echoing bang that reverberated on the remaining windows. Harry was hit with the spell in the middle of the chest and soared away, falling on his back down on the eerie graveyard.

Harry thought his back had splintered when he gasped for air, maybe one of his lungs had been punctured, he tried to look around but his glasses had been blown away so all he saw was blurred mist.

He heard the rustle of robes and someone stopping right in front of him. Harry tried to sit up but he couldn't move from the pain.

"Potter, I always knew you were dim but I didn't know you were so thick as to come here," said a cold voice that Harry recognized as Lucius Malfoy's. His sneering face swam in and out of focus. He sounded a bit angry, but very pleased at the same time.

"You have made our work so much easier Potter, the Dark Lord will reward me for this," he continued talking more to him self than to Harry, "I mustn't tell anyone and keep the glory for myself."

Harry was fighting to keep him self conscious, knowing that the pain would make him faint. Malfoy's words turned into a murmur, as his senses started to shut down, and everything started to get darker. He thought he saw flashes of light, like fireworks exploding just above him, and the ground shaking beneath him as if a bunch of horses were galloping around him before everything turned black, and his thoughts died away.

The lights appeared again; only now they were of a dazzling white, they shone right through his eyelids and made him wake up. Harry opened his eyes, but instantly closed them again with a moan because of the blinding light.

"Harry?" whispered a voice behind him.

"Who's there, where am I?" Harry muttered.

"It's me Harry," the person said, "Oh, wait." Harry heard him standing up and walking across the room, there was a loud noise and then the light diminished.

Harry opened his eyes and saw Ron standing at the foot of the bed where he was, beaming at him.

"Ron!" Harry cried.

"Welcome home Harry," he said with a smile.

"I thought I had died or that I had been captured by the death eaters."

"Its ok, you're here."

"But what happened," Harry said anxiously remembering what had happened back at the graveyard, "I was blown away by Malfoy and then everything started to get dark and then… I … don't remember anything else."

"It's a long story, I'll tell you later," Ron said in a sympathetic way, "let's go down and you can eat something."

Harry got up from his bed and recognized Ron's room, with the usual Chudley Cannons decorations and Pigwidgeon's cage stood empty in a corner of the room. He realized that all the pain had gone away, and that he felt as good as ever.

"Lupin healed you; he came in carrying you in his arms and muttered some spells that made you glow… He said it was easy since you hadn't been poisoned or jinxed, that you had just broken your back…" Ron said staring at Harry, obviously noticing that Harry was wondering where the pain had gone since he was touching his back with a furrowed brow.

"Who's here?" Harry asked Ron as they left the now dark room.

"Well, its: you, me, Tonks, Lupin, Dad, Charlie, Bill, Ginny, Mum, Fred, George, Mad-eye and I've just sent Pig with a letter to invite Hermione," he said counting with his fingers.

"So everyone's here," Harry said smiling.

"Yeah," said Ron.

The started down the stairs passing various doors.

"How did the order know where I was?" Harry said suddenly. He looked at Ron who had a guilty look on his face. "You told them didn't you?"

"I sort of did," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Lupin came and asked me if I knew were you were since he couldn't find you anywhere near Privet Drive. And then I told him you had left to do something secret and he instantly started to ask me if it had something to do about the Horcruxes…"

Harry looked at Ron with an inquiring look, and Ron went on.

"They know about them Harry, I think Dumbledore left a note or something because everyone in the order knows about them."

Harry had not thought that Dumbledore would tell anyone but him about this information, but then figures that nearly all the members of the order had known him way before Harry had, so they too, were to be trusted.

They entered the kitchen and then the living room, were all the adults were talking in hushed voices, with worried looks on their faces. They all stopped talking and looked up when they entered.

"Harry!" cried Mrs. Weasley standing up and hurrying to hug him, "oh honey welcome home!"

Harry talked with all of them for a while and listened as they told him what had happened the other night.

"As soon as Ron told us you were at Riddle's house, we apparated there only to see you lying sprawled on the ground, with Malfoy standing beside you," Lupin told Harry.

"Yeah, and we started to throw spells at him, but he made some charm that made the ground shake and we fell to the floor, and when it stopped and we stood up, we saw him back at the door of the house calling for help. We didn't wish to fight so we just grabbed you and disapparated," Tonks said with an exciting tone.

"So now Harry, you can stay with us," Mr. Weasley said.

"Great," Harry answered beaming around.

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Read & Review if you liked it, or if you didn't. 


	5. Back to Hogwarts

I took me a long time but now its here. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 5: Back to Hogwarts**

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For the next few days, Harry spent most of his time thinking about Riddle's House and when he would get another chance to explore it, but other things were keeping him busy too. He didn't know why, but ever since he had gotten here he had tried to avoid Ginny, he supposed it had something to do with the way they had broken up last year, or maybe because the day he had arrived at her house she had looked at him with furious eyes. Like him she had avoided him too, breathing hardly every time she saw him. Also, Hermione hadn't contacted them since Harry's night at the Riddles house and it was worrying him and Ron, even though Mr. Weasley said that he had checked on her and her family, and they were all right.

Three days after the night when he had almost been captured by Voldemort, Harry found himself in deep conversation with Moody.

"So you've been practicing with auror training books, eh?" Mad-eye said to Harry with interest.

"Yeah… that and… other things," Harry said awkwardly.

"What other things?" he asked.

"Just… random magic," Harry answered nervously. In fact Harry had also been trying to become an animagus, but he had been unable to work it out, therefore, he had stopped trying.

Moody stared at him with both of his eyes with a suspicious look on his face before he changed his expression and said, "So why did you turn into a rat instead of anything else?"

Harry was thankful that Moody hadn't asked what _random magic_ meant since that magic was illegal. He then answered Mad-eye.

"Well, it's the only thing I've managed to turn into apart from a cockroach," Harry said slightly ashamed.

"Well that's not bad considering that turning into animals is very advanced magic and hardly any student can manage it," he said looking at him in what Harry supposed was an approving expression since his features were so disfigured.

"Thanks," he uttered, turning red.

The last days in the burrow would have been some of the best he'd had there if news about deaths hadn't come daily. Apart from deaths, Voldemort's death eaters had taken to destroy important things, like statues and famous buildings, only the day before Harry would be leaving to Hogwarts, the Big Ben was destroyed. It had come as a shock to both wizards and muggles that such a wonderful thing was destroyed. Muggles were told that there had been an accident involving someone smoking, and gas pipes.

Harry couldn't believe Hogwarts would be running with so many things going on, and even more now that Dumbledore wasn't there, but he supposed that the ministry would put a lot of heavy protection on the castle.

The day came and Harry and Ron found themselves searching the house for things they might have left in another room that wasn't theirs.

"Come on boys you're going to be late!" Mrs. Weasley yelled from downstairs. That statement could hardly be true, Harry thought, since this year, students that could apparate were to do so the first of September, therefore they couldn't be late because apparating just took a few seconds.

"You ready?" Ron asked standing next to his trunk, which was now closed and had Pigwidgeon's cage on it, Pigwidgeon was still downstairs eating their leftovers from breakfast.

"Just a second," said Harry putting the last pair of socks into his trunk and shutting it closed. "Okay let's go."

They slowly went down the stairs with their trunks behind them, and entered the kitchen. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were there waiting for them, Ginny was still sleeping because underage students would be getting to Hogwarts the next day by floo powder.

"Come on outside boys," Mr. Weasley said starting to walk.

"Why are we going outside?" Harry asked waling beside him; they didn't have anything to do outside.

"Well, you can't dissapparate inside the house; there are a lot of charms protecting the hose now."

"Oh."

Once they were outside and they were squeezed to death by Mrs. Weasley, Harry and Ron said good bye and vanished from the spot with their trunks, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Weasley quite alone in their backyard.

Harry opened his eyes ready to contemplate the great castle that he so perfectly knew. But all he could see was an enormous field with damp green grass.

"Where's the castle?" Harry asked Ron exasperatedly.

"I don't know!" Ron gasped with his mouth hanging open.

"Do you think it got destroyed?" Harry asked still staring at the stretch of grass.

"No," said a familiar bossy voice behind them. Harry and Ron turned around and saw Hermione smiling at them. "There should be a lot ruins and rubble lying around if that had happened. I actually think that the fidelius charm was cast upon the castle."

Harry gazed at her trying to understand what she was talking about and then he remembered about the spell that made buildings disappear. It seemed like a lot of trouble to Harry to put a charm that powerful on a place so big.

"It's so good to see you!" Hermione screamed suddenly, and than hugged both of them around the neck.

"It's good to see you too Hermione, but can you please let us breath!" gasped Ron

Hermione let go of them and beamed at them.

Harry noticed now that he was facing the road to Hogsmeade, that a small crowd of students was standing a little way ahead in front of him. It was a big crowd actually, and Harry thought that everyone who could apparate must already be there. He would have thought that few students would return to the castle now that Voldemort was at large, but it seemed that every one was here. And these were only the seventh year students and some sixth years.

"Quite a lot of them came back," said Hermione who had been staring at Harry while he thought all this. "It seems that their parents have finally realized that Hogwarts is much safer than their own homes."

"Yeah," Harry said remembering how some parents had taken their children home last year.

They made their way towards the group of students and found Dean Thomas and Neville chatting with Hannah Abbot and Justin Finch-Fletchey. Lavender Brown was sitting on a tree stump beside Parvati Patil.

"Hi!" Neville, Dean, Hannah and Justin said to them as they approached them.

"How've you been?" They answered back, and started talking about their summers and the things they had heard about other people's families.

"I know, poor Lavender," Hannah said sadly as she stared at Lavender who was now staring at the sky, "It must be so hard to come back here after her father died just a few weeks ago," she finished softly.

"Listen up everyone!" shouted a voice from behind them. Mrs. McGonagall was standing at the front of the crowd wearing long velvet robes and had her hair tied up in the usual bun she wore.

"I am going to give this note to the person at the front and you are going to pass it by after you've read it.

She passed the note to a Ravenclaw student at the front who read with his brow furrowed and then passed it on. He looked up and let out a gasp, staring right in front of him at something that no one else could see.

One by one students read the note and then let out gasps of surprised as they looked at the place where the castle once was. Harry soon realized that Hermione theory must be true, because the look on their faces as they stared right in front of them was very obvious.

The note reached Harry and when he looked up, he saw it for himself for the first time in weeks. The giant castle with its many towers and turrets, with hundreds of windows that reflected the sun's light.

When everyone had read the note Mrs. McGonagall flicked her wand and the small piece of parchment burst in flames and the wind took its ashes.

"Follow me," she said as she turned around and strode towards the gates of the castle. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione and together they walked towards the castle with the rest of the students.

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Hope you liked it, and please review! 


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